Traditional Cuisine
by HecateA
Summary: In which Percy misses camp and Sally enjoys cooking. Oneshot.


**Hi! So about twenty million years ago I got a request. I am now filling it. I apologise for the long wait.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters shown below.**

**Dedication: To omega2199 who asked for ****_oneshot about Greek food_**

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**Traditional Cuisine**

"Smells good, Mom," Percy called as he walked into the apartment. It was late, not that that justified the winter's sky darkness. He'd been trying to finish a science project.

"Thank you sweetheart. How was your day?" Sally asked. He didn't call anything back. She frowned. He'd sounded fine coming in…

"What does it _smell _like?" He asked stunned.

Sally smiled and answered, "Take a guess."

"Olives," Percy said.

"Olive oil," Sally said. "Right."

"Pork?"

"Right," she said.

"Lots of veggies."

"Yes, lots of vegetables," Sally nodded. He walked into the kitchen and his eyes sprawled.

"Is that _Greek food?" _

Sally laughed at his face and put an arm around him. She kissed the side of his head.

Percy was looking at all the food, stunned into silence.

"Souvlaki, salad, spanakopita, feta…" Percy said shaking his head. "Mom, why?"

"I had a lot of time on my hands," Sally said. "Besides, chicken and rice is boring. Grab a plate and tell me what you think."

Percy loaded his plate; the resulting pile of food was tall and rounded like a scoop of ice cream. She didn't doubt for a second that he'd manage to put it all away.

"Verdict?" Sally asked using her knife to slide a piece of pork off of the skewer.

"I feel like I'm at camp and the nymphs have decided to quit making us pizza and serve us culture," Percy said with a smile on his face. He looked excited and happy; as per usual it made her smile.

"I'm glad that you like it."

"Where in the world did you learn to make this?"

"While I was trying to pay for university I babysat for a family down in Murray Hills; the parents were these immigrants who'd striven in business. The grandmother was slipping into dementia, but she loved to cook and when the kids were napping and she got lonely… She taught me," Sally explained. "She didn't think that her grandsons would ever be able to cook and apparently I was the second best thing."

"Seems legit," Percy shrugged. "It tastes real. Not like that take-out crap that Cabin Six made me eat as a social experience."

"Language at the table," Sally reminded him. "The word was appropriate, but find a synonym okay sweetheart?"

Percy nodded.

Hbit a tomato and a cube of feta off a souvlaki.

"Wait- idea- hold on."

He got up and rummaged in the pantry for a while before coming back with pita. He ripped a piece of bread in two and handed her half.

"Souvlaki in pita- everyone does this all the time when we get to dinner late and lost eating time. It's _so good,_ you'll love it Mom." Percy said.

"Alright, I'm game," Sally said forking some chicken and feta onto the piece of bread.

"Put tzatziki on," Percy said handing her the bowl in which a few spoonfuls of the white sauce sat. "It's just awesome."

Good food made people chatty, and Percy was telling her everything about the last week of school which had been a crazy mess of staying there late and getting in trouble at school and rushing for midterms. He'd still managed to sneak in _some _fun and 'd hacked a Webkinz account in the library the other day and had bought grapes with his friend's life savings. He'd boosted his grade in English with an oral presentation on sharks. Another friend, Richard, was fantastic at making flashcards. He'd promised to show her the doodles after supper.

She got the how-is-Tyson update, and her heart melted a bit when she heard that he was okay. She made sure to tell Percy to keep leftovers for both his lunch and Tyson's. She knew that it was out of the blue and illogical for who he was, but part of her melted for Tyson and wanted to keep him safe and give him a spot at her table and a bed in which she could tuck him in.

He got around to asking her about her classes too, which were going fine. He asked her to tell her a story as well, and so she pulled some of her stock characters out from the back of her mind and inserted them into an Irish legend she'd been tweaking recently. He made her laugh.

They started piling on the dishes as they moved on to talking about something that the mayor had done recently. Percy was eating another souvlaki- _'my last'_ he'd promised for the third time. It was actually frightening to see how much his metabolism had sprouted since the summer. Like the rest of him- she swore that her son grew every time that she blinked.

She'd loaded the dishwasher and took a second to lean back against the counter to look at Percy. Just _look _at him. How grown up he was, how much bigger he'd gotten, how shaggy his hair was (it was nearly time to argue about haircuts again), how light his eyes were when he was happy… She was glad to have recovered the light after the week from academic hell.

Percy had frozen and was looking at her, mouth full of spanakopita (_I promise that I'll leave leftovers of that too mom, really, I do!) _

"What?" He asked.

"I love you," Sally said.

"Love you too," he said with his mouthful.

She sat down next to him and rubbed his back. He leaned against her shoulder, sleepy from the big meal and the long day now. Hopefully he didn't have any additional homework.

"I know that this year's not easy," she said. "But I'm so proud of you for keeping your chin up and doing so well."

"I'm not really…"

"You are. You're underestimating yourself. I've seen you grow up a lot, and I know how much easier –and probably safer- it would be for you to just go to camp and leave the world behind…"

"Mom, I can't do that," Percy said. "Leave you behind, are you nuts? I mean, sure I miss camp sometimes- though not enough that it can't be fixed with Greek food... But I'd have to be away from you to get homesick."


End file.
